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In her small Texas town, Lacey Ann Byer has a reputation. She’s a good girl. Her father is the local preacher and she is expected to live up to the ideal of “preacher’s daughter”. But that’s never been a problem for her. In line with being the good girl in town, she has never wished to be the most popular or the prettiest girl. But this year, she wants to shine. For the first time, she is old enough to try out for the most difficult and highly lauded character in the church’s annual Hell House- abortion girl. The annual Hell House is her church’s way of teaching young people about the dangers of sin and it draws visitors from the surrounding towns. Then things change when Ty moves to town. He and Lacey grow close, but his questions cause Lacey to start thinking deeply about her own beliefs and faith.

I loved Small Town Sinners. It is unlike anything I have ever read before. It’s a book about religion without being heavy-handed or preachy. Religion plays a major role in the plot, but it doesn’t read like a “religious” book. Lacey is easy to relate to and all of the characters are real. They aren’t caricatures of people with faith (which is something I see in some YA books). They are who they are and they ring true. And despite being the preacher’s daughter, Lacey is a normal teenage girl. She is trying to figure out who she is and where her place in the world is, all while trying to live up to the ideals set by her parents.

A fantastic read for anyone interested in contemporary YA. I would recommend this to fans of Sarah Dessen. Fans of Melissa Walker’s Violet on the Runway series will also enjoy her newest book. Highly recommended.